


Breathin

by watchmespitfire



Series: Spitfire Snapshots [4]
Category: Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Family Reunions, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, I wrote more than i realized that i just never ended up posting, Inspired by an Ariana Grande Song, Reunions, Takes place after season 2, Wally Returns, it's another song inspired fics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-20
Updated: 2019-04-20
Packaged: 2020-01-23 00:51:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18538957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/watchmespitfire/pseuds/watchmespitfire
Summary: “Just keep breathing for me, Beautiful. I’ll get you out here real quick, okay?”It’s all she can do to nod and follow him onto his obnoxious yellow, Bat-approved, motorcycle





	Breathin

It always started out the same. The looks before each class, the looks during class. Artemis was a still ‘the charity case’ that Bruce Wayne allowed into Gotham Academy. She was friends with Dick and Barbara, and thankfully, people were less likely to go up against a Wayne and the Commissioner's daughter. It wasn’t like Artemis really cared what people thought about her, but when someone found out her mother used to be Huntress… the harassment picked up massively to the point where she almost couldn’t bring herself to go to school anymore. It was bad. Calls had been made, parents didn’t want her in the school, Artemis didn’t want to go to school anymore. But there was one thing Artemis wasn’t, and that was a coward, so she went every goddamn day, and she hated every minute of it, but she wasn’t going to allow them to see how much their words, notes, threats, shoving her in the hallways, and looks hurt. There was no way in hell she was going to give them that kind of satisfaction. 

That didn’t mean that some days weren’t absolute hell. Days like today, when it took all of her energy not to hit someone or break down crying in the bathroom. On days like today, when it was particularly hard, and the walls felt like they were closing in on her, Artemis wondered if it was all truly worth it. After a small eternity later, Artemis walks out the school doors with her head up and is pointedly not looking at anyone when she hears a voice through the haze and cruel words. Artemis’s head snaps toward the gate and sees him leaning up against his bike, with a stupid smile on his face that she didn’t realize that she desperately wanted to see. Artemis has to fight back the tears as she makes her way over to him. Wally pulls her into a hug as soon as she’s close enough and it’s all she can do not to break down in his arms. She knows people are staring and whispering about this ‘new’ development. Artemis buries her face in his chest. Wally showing up out of the blue was the only good thing that had happened all week. 

“Dude. Do you know who she is?” Someone from behind her demands and Artemis can’t figure out if she is going to cry or flip her lid first. It’s honestly getting harder to breathe as the full impact how much her day sucked hits.  

Wally only tightens his arms around her. “Yeah, she’s my girlfriend.”

She can hear her classmates shock and demands to know who he is and why he’s going out with the likes of her, but Wally only ignores them. He offers her a helmet which she gratefully takes. “Just keep breathing for me, Beautiful. I’ll get you out here real quick, okay?”

It’s all she can do to nod and follow him onto his obnoxious yellow, Bat-approved, motorcycle.

* * *

His return was marked with the sound of an explosion.

She felt all the air sucked out of her lungs as she watches him literally hit the wall and crumple to the ground. His yellow suit was in tatters but somehow still clinging to him. Artemis can’t seem to get to him fast enough. She felt as if she was running through tar. He hasn’t moved by the time she gets to him. He’s as still as the grave. If it weren’t for his faint breathing, she would actually think that the impact of hitting the wall, with the speed he was traveling at, had killed him. Artemis falls to her knees next to him, vaguely aware that she’s crying. She touches his face and bites back a sob when she makes contact with skin. He was real and in front of her. All too soon Barry is pulling her back as the paramedics take him away from her and putting him onto a gurney. She watches him get wheeled off toward the medical wing. Behind her, she knows Barry has tears running down his face. 

It feels like a lifetime before she’s able to see him again. Artemis takes a seat next to his hospital bed. The doctor said he’s hugely malnourished, exhausted and those to factors are making it hard for his body to regulate his organs thus all the machines he was attached to, but other than that, he was fine. They were just waiting for him to wake up and Artemis was sure as hell going to be there when he did. At some point, someone, probably Dick or Bart, had brought Brucely. Once the pit bull had realized Wally was back and that he wasn’t allowed to lick his face to his heart’s content, had jumped onto the hospital bed and had curled up between Wally’s legs, determined not to move unless absolutely necessary. None of the nurses or doctors said anything about the dog being on the bed or even in the medical wing of the Watchtower. 

A little over a week later, Artemis woke up to the sound of the heart monitor picking up rapidly, the sound of someone choking and Brucely’s barking. It takes her longer than it should realize that Wally is awake and clamping down on the breathing tube. Artemis hits the button to call for the nurse. 

“Wally! You need to calm down, please before you hurt yourself.” She moves to his line of vision and squeezes his hand. Wide, frightened green eyes meet hers, and Artemis moves to reassure him “You’re okay, Baywatch, I promise…Breathe with me, ok? In… Out…”

He keeps his eyes fixed on her face as he slowly starts to breathe normally and soon enough the nurse is there to remove the tube for him. As soon as the machine is removed, Brucely is on Wally happily licking his face, making Wally laugh weakly at their dog's enthusiasm. After a little while, he moves the back of the bed up some and pulls Artemis to him. She buries her face in his neck and it’s all she can do not to start crying again. It’s been too long since she had been able to do this, to hold him and feel his arms around her. How had she survived so long without this? Artemis has no idea. 

“Hey, Beautiful? What happened? The last thing I remember was running around the MDF… and then running into a wall that came out of nowhere…” Wally asked about an hour after he had woken up. 

“We’re not entirely sure, Baywatch.” Artemis pauses and moves so that she can look at his face, “...Wally… you disappeared for almost three years. It’s 2019. We...I thought you were dead until about three months ago when Bart and Tim stumbled across your suits tracking system… and we’ve been trying to find a way to bring you back here ever since…” 

She watches the look on Wally's face morph from confusion to disbelief as he processes her words. “Jesus…” 

She runs her fingers through his hair as he takes in what she just said. 

After a long moment, he swallows and looks her in the eye. “Did you… are you seeing…?”

“No. there hasn’t ever been and will never be anyone else for me but you.” 

Wally lets out a long breath and seems to relax more at her words. “Do I need to worry about any new ex-boyfriends?”

Artemis laughs “No, you don’t.” 

“Good.”

* * *

It doesn’t take long for him to heal up and be released into Artemis’ care. It’s almost surreal to see Wally back in his civies. They make a stop by the cafeteria, where he raids most of the food there. There are people staring, but they’re easy to ignore as Artemis fills Wally with all the important things that he’s missed. 

“Hey, Baywatch? We should stop by your parents' house before going home…”

“Do they not know I’m awake?” 

“Wally, I’m not even sure they listened to the messages we left after we found out you were alive… they haven’t called me or Barry back at all.” 

She watches her boyfriend frown at that, “They didn’t return your calls? Like at all?” 

“I talk to them sometimes, but your parents didn’t do so great after Bart took over Kid Flash… they kept thinking it was you and it was hard for them… and eventually, they just stop answering my or Barry’s calls.”

“Oh…” Wally looks distraught for a moment before forcing a smile “Well… we definitely need swing by then.” 

And that’s how Artemis found herself standing in the West front porch as Wally fumbled with his keys after declaring that he didn’t need to knock on his own parents' door when he had the key. Artemis was fully prepared to call 911 in the event that he caused his parents a heart attack by accident, but he was not to be dissuaded. Once the door unlocked, he threw it open and announced that he was home very loudly at was probably 2 in the morning.

It only took about two minutes for footsteps to be heard from upstairs, a moment later Rudy West appeared at the top of the steps, shotgun aimed at the door before he processed who was standing in his living room. For a long moment, Wally and his dad stared at each other in shock.

“Hi, Dad… Heard it’s been a while…”

There is a click as the safety put back into place on to the shotgun and then Rudy is down the steps and pulling Wally into a hug, crying and calling up to his wife that there was someone here to see her. It didn’t take long for Mary to be heard demanding to know who was showing up at this hour of the night, only to stop short at the sight of her son. Artemis smiles at her as Wally waves at her best he can from the tight hug his father has him in. She stares at them in complete shock.

“Hey, Mama...Sorry to wake you…” 

As soon as the words are out of his mouth, it's like a spell had been broken and Mary is caught between screaming ‘oh my God’ and ‘my baby,’ as she comes rushing down the stairs to see her son. Soon Wally was enclosed in both of his parents' arms and everyone was crying. Artemis was content to watch their reunion, wiping away her own tears when a hand shoots out and drags her into the West family hug. 


End file.
